Warriors’ Andre Iguodala tabbed to start another big game

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr made the most dramatic adjustment of the thrilling, seven-game Western Conference finals, subbing Andre Iguodala into the starting lineup in place of Harrison Barnes on Monday night.

The move had the desired effect in the Warriors’ 96-88 Game 7 victory over Oklahoma City.

Iguodala held four-time scoring champion Kevin Durant without a field goal for the game’s first 6:15. The Thunder’s All-Star forward also missed the final two attempts of his 19-shot performance on a night when Steven Adams, Serge Ibaka and Andre Roberson were tempted into taking 11 shots apiece.

It was Iguodala’s first start since Jan. 2, when he had nine points and six assists without a turnover in the Warriors’ three-point overtime win over Denver. He famously moved into the starting five for Games 4-6 in the 2015 NBA Finals, helping the Warriors dig out of a 2-1 hole and winning the series’ MVP award.

Kerr said Sunday that he didn’t anticipate starting Iguodala and had some more fun misleading the media just hours before Game 7.

“I have made 11 alterations to the game plan — none of which I will share with you,” Kerr said.

Commish refutes conspiracy: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver took to the airwaves to deny a conspiracy theory suggesting the league preferred that the Warriors, not the Thunder, play in the Finals.

The theory’s main contentions are about Warriors power forward Draymond Green not being suspended for his kick to the groin of Adams and Ticketmaster accidentally posting a premature advertisement for a Golden State-Cleveland Finals matchup on the league’s Facebook site.

“I hear it, and it’s the most sensitive issue for me, and it goes to the core integrity of the league and frankly to my integrity,” Silver told ESPN Radio. “Even from a business standpoint, it would be impossible to predict which Finals would have a greater following. It depends on how many games, how close the games are.

“I can only thus sort of swear to the world that we do the best we can, and that we don’t prefer one market or one team over another.”

Historically speaking: Monday night’s game was the first Game 7 in Oakland in 40 years, since Rick Barry and the Warriors lost to Phoenix in the 1976 Western Conference finals.

Barry returned to the Bay Area for this one. He lives in Colorado but has attended about a dozen Warriors games the past two seasons — and he hasn’t seen them lose in person.

Barry, 72, is an unabashed fan of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Barry raved about Thompson’s release on his jump shot, saying it might even be quicker than Curry’s.

At the same time, Barry sounded like a wide-eyed fan, not a difficult-to-impress Hall of Famer, in talking about Curry.

“He’s as much fun to watch as any player I’ve seen in my life,” Barry said. “I love watching him. I’ve seen a lot of great players play and do stuff, but he’s as much fun as anybody I’ve ever seen play the game because you never know what he’s going to do. He just does amazing stuff.”

Spartan support: Denzel Valentine, a guard for Michigan State this past season, was at Monday night’s game. Warriors forward Draymond Green, an MSU alum, became a mentor of sorts for Valentine during his time with the Spartans. This was the first time Valentine attended a game at Oracle.